Fossil from south Wales named as new reptile species

A part of the 3D skeleton modelled from the fossil stays present in south Wales

A fossil from south Wales has lastly been recognized as a brand new historic species of small lizard.

The reptile would have shared its house with different dinosaurs 200 million years in the past, in what would change into the Vale of Glamorgan.

The fossilised stays have been present in rocks collected at Pant-y-Ffynnon quarry close to Bonvilston within the 1950s.

It has been identify Clevosaurus cambrica by the Bristol College undergraduate who made the invention.

“We in contrast it with different examples of Clevosaurus from areas round Bristol and south Gloucestershire, however our new beast is sort of completely different within the association of its tooth,” defined Emily Keeble, who compiled the analysis for the ultimate 12 months of her palaeontology diploma.

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Tony Hodge/Georgraph
Picture caption

The fossils have been collected from the quarry practically 70 years in the past

In the course of the Late Triassic interval, the world that grew to become south Wales and south-west England was a sequence of islands, inhabited by small dinosaurs and family of the Tuatara, a reptilian dwelling fossil from New Zealand.

“We have been fortunate to search out numerous the skeleton and Emily was in a position to scan the blocks and make 3D reconstructions of the cranium, neck, shoulder and arm area,” stated mission supervisor Prof Mike Benton.